Wednesday, July 1, 2009

After being frustratingly out of print for the better part of this decade, Jack Cardiff's wonderfully evocative and sometimes surreal Girl on a Motorcycle has thankfully been re-released by Redemption on DVD. Of the film's many pleasures, perhaps my favorite is its absolute adoration of the extraordinarily beautiful faces of its stars Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon. Faithfull and Delon were both at the peak of their physical beauty in 1968 and Cardiff and co-cinematographer René Guissasrt capture them incredibly well. As a tribute to the film, Cardiff, his two stars and Redemption's new DVD here is a visual tribute featuring fifty stills I have captured from the new disc...surely one of the most aesthetically pleasing posts I have presented here. Enjoy and seek out the film if you haven't seen it. Also, may I please recommend Kimberly Lindberg's wonderful articles on the film at Cinebeats for fellow fans.

Once again you post an appreciation of a neglected film with an unschooled central performance by a beautiful but unusual female. A man after my own heart! I find this to be a pretentious and ultimately frivolous movie, but I love every frame, regardless. Jack Cardiff's cinematography is jaw-dropping stuff, Marianne Faithful is mouth-watering and that ending! Although his short career as a director is uneven, GIRL... and FREAKMAKER (aka THE MUTATIONS) are visually luxurious blasts of exploitation goodness.---UNRELATED QUESTION: Is there a reason why the Name/URL comment option is blocked on your FASCINATION page?

I am the editor and co-creator of the quarterly print only publication Art Decades as well as the author of the upcoming From Emmanuelle to Chabrol: Sylvia Kristel in the Seventies. I'm also the creator of a number of film and music blogs including Moon in the Gutter, Fascination: The Jean Rollin Experience, The Sylvia Kristel Archives and Harry Moseby Confidential. I live in Colorado with my wife Kelley and our three dogs Maizie, Topper and Ziggy Pop.